I have not been able to watch Aljazeera (Arabic) for a while now. The other day I watched for a brief period: I was nauseated by a report about the Free Syrian Army thugs and how they are distributing toys to children in the `Id. Kid you not. It reminded me of Ba`thist TV media, at its worst.

From Angry Arab's correspondent on Bahrain: "The crackdown in Bahrain is intensifying. After the siege of AlEkr village,
the regime has now decided to ban all protests and rallies. But don't you worry, Bahrain is continuing its reform march".

"""Europe says settlements are illegal under international law
and yet continues to trade with them," said William Bell of Christian Aid UK and
Ireland, one of the consortium partners. "Consumers are unwittingly contributing
to the injustice by buying products that are inaccurately labelled as coming
from Israel when in fact they are from settlements in the West Bank."""

""Israel has emerged as an influential military and commercial
ally of South Sudan since its independence last year, while Iran has
strengthened its links with the Khartoum regime."" This explains why the crimes of Khartum regime get covered in the West but not the crimes of South Sudan.

""The State Department has been heavily involved in crafting
the new council as part of its effort oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and
build a more viable and unified opposition. In September, for instance,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with a group of Syrian activists who were
flown in to New York for a high-level meeting that has not been reported until
now."" (thanks Amir)

"Israel would
use a lot fewer cluster
munitions in any future war with Hezbollah than it did in their 2006
conflict, even though it would go into southern Lebanon earlier and harder, a
senior Israeli military
officer said on Monday.

Israel has not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, whose adoption
in 2008 was spurred partly by Lebanese casualties of the bomblets, some of which
lay scattered and unexploded until they were accidentally detonated by civilian
passersby." (thanks Basim)

"" "Iran is not popular in the Arab
world, far from it, and some governments in the region, as well as their
citizens, have understood that a nuclear armed Iran would be dangerous for them,
not just for Israel," he said.""When Israeli leaders speak about the Arabs, they really mean the ruling dynasties of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE. That is it.

"“’I have had so many girls. So many that you couldn’t count them. I never had one girl more than once…. Girls love money and cars. That was my weakness.’
“It was, in fact, one of these women who put Arbabsiar in touch with a man in May 2011 who said he was a member of the Mexican drug gang Los Zetas. Arbabsiar went on to ask this cartel associate — actually a Drug Enforcement Agency informant — to kill the ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Washington D.C. using explosives.”"

Wahhabi religious and non-religious kooks have been religiously wishing ill for the US and its people in the face of "Sandy". That would have been translated by MEMRI in an instance if it is not coming from an ally of Israel.

The kidnappers among the Free Syrian Army--and let us not kid ourselves and let us stop playing games. `Itani was traveling among the Free Syrian Army gangs and was doing a report about them. But whenever Free Syrian Army gangs commit crimes, they blame someone else--has issued a statement that `Itani will be released shortly.

PS I don't know `Itani. We just crossed paths in Al-Akhbar's offices a few times and exchanged greetings. He has been investigative reporter who covered Jihadi groups in Lebanon.

The corrupt Suha Arafat has stopped calling for an investigation of her husband's death. Let me translate: the money from the PA gang has arrived. And she won't call for an investigation until she needs more money in the future. Stay tuned.

Dale sent me this: "The following is from an interview with Annie Machon, who was anintelligence
officer for the UK's MI5 in the 1990s, but she left after blowing the whistle
on the incompetence and crimes of the British spy agencies. You have to
scroll down for the reference in the transcript:

"MACHON:
Why? That's a very good question, because MI5's assessment, after they looked
at all the evidence around this case, was that Mossad, the Israeli
intelligence agency, had carried out a controlled explosion outside their own
embassy in order to, one, increase the security aroundall their interests in
London, which they'd been pushing for farsor ye, and MI5 kept telling them
to, you know, take a hike, and also to frame these two innocent people who
were involved in Palestinian support networks in London. And that network was
gaining a lot of traction politically and financially. And, of course, once
you finger two innocent people, the whole network just disappeared.""

Emile sent me this: "Islamophobia hits a new low in France with this cover of mainstream (albeit
right wing) newsmagazine Le Point. The text says "cet islam sans gêne" (this
Islam without embarrassment) and the picture shows a woman in nikab waving at or
threatening a french gendarme.

Spoofs immediately appeared on the Web :
this judaism without embarrassment (with a picture of Bernard-Henri Levy) and
Those fags without embarrassment (two lesbians kissing). As you say the UN
security council would have already
met..."

There are various e-books readers. I like the Sony reader although you can't download it on Iphone or android (but can be read on Experia tablets) and Kindle (especially that the latter can be downloaded on any phone or tablets). For Arabic, the e-books are just lousy. There is one reader called Noon and it is a piece of garbage. You buy books and they don't open and the reader itself on any system crashes per minute. But to my delight this week, I have downloaded the Nook (the Barnes and Nobles reader). What is great about it is that: 1) it has the largest collection of free books. For example, some of the most scholarly books of late 19th century and early 20th century are available for free. They must be free because they are not in demand although they are my favorite. You will find the classic travel books on the Middle East in French, German, and English and for free (even rare ones like Volney). They also seem to have an arrangement with the University of Toronto library which has made a whole collection (in multiple languages) digitally available. The major philosophical works are often available for free presumably because the public is busy spending tons of money on the latest books by Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter.

What happened in Bani Walid in Libya just was not a story for the Western media. NATO Libyan militias stormed the city and put it under siege and killed scores of people and then displaced some 70,000 people. There was no outcry and no human rights organizations to my knowledge called for investigation.

Ernest Barker, the political thinker, is one of my all-time favorite thinkers and writers--his political views aside. I recommend all his books. His book on the political thought of Plato and Aristotle is one of my favorites.

So this guy did not like the critique by comrade Joseph of "Homeland". I don't know who this person is but he (presumably) wrote this about himself in Wikipedia: "Frantzman has developed the philosophy of Post-Humanism which he critiques as the bane of the western world. He is opposed to Moral Relativism and has dedicated many writings to critique of histories of South Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Ideologically Frantzman has remained a conservative, but also a passionate libertarian in the footsteps of Ayn Rand and Edward Abbey. He has a deep fascination with Richard Nixon and Josef Stalin but his true passion is the study of minorities and diverse peoples such as Native Americans, Assyrian Christians, Crimean Kairites and other interesting people and interesting histories of obscure subjects. His heroes include John Gurang of the South Sudan Liberation Army, the former Shah of Iran, Jan Smuts, Atal Vajpayee, Richard Mienertzhagen, Charles Martel, Don Juan, Roland, Thaksin Shinuat, Pinochet and Vicente Fox. In the time before time there was a wikipedia entry created of me by someone...it was then deleted, thankfully, but for posterity I am keeping a copy of it here...ha, its too funny what people felt was "notable" below." But somebody else presumably wrote this about him: "Kevin Jon Heller, a professor of international criminal law at Melbourne Law School who has been involved with the International Criminal Court[17] lampooned Frantzman's grasp of facts with regard to his article Terra Incognita: Strange justice: The ICC, Europe and the world in The Jerusalem Post,[18] concerning the work of International Criminal Court. Heller, defending the court, called the Frantzman article "the worst anti-ICC editorial ever," and went on to say that "the Jerusalem Post should be ashamed of itself for publishing it".[19]" Furthermore, he: "He was suspended in 1992 for stealing trophies."

"I do, however, make a link specifically between extremism and how
medicine and engineering are taught and teaching methods at Egyptian
universities in general." OK, brilliant man. George W. Bush went to Yale and Harvard. Do you want to revamp the curricula there too? Husni Mubarak went to the Egyptian military academy, do you want to revamp the curriculum there too?

"Fidaa Itani, a reporter
for the private Lebanese Broadcasting Cooperation International (LBCI) and
several other Lebanese news outlets, was accompanying the Free Syrian Army and
reporting on military operations in Aleppo when he was seized in the Aazaz
neighborhood, according to news
reports. A rebel militia called
the Northern Storm Battalion of Aazaz reported on its Facebook pagethat the journalist was
being held under "house arrest" and had been detained because "his work was not
suitable with the course of the Syrian revolution and revolutionaries,"
news
reportssaid. The Free Syrian
Army is not a single, unified organization, but an overarching name for numerous
local militias such as Northern Storm Battalion that at times have conflicting agendas."

"Make sure to check out this video from Now Lebanon featuring an ex-employee called Shirine who used to work with the Chi.N.N team in Al Jadeed TV and went on a maternity leave after having a baby, only to be surprised with a phone call during her leave claiming that the Al Jadeed no longer needs her since the person who replaced her is doing the job well and for less money." (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

Ahmet of Tunisia sent me this: "Asad, you aptly described the rule of the various Muslim Brotherhood
chapters in the Arab World as "repulsive". . An example of that: yesterday,
while justifying the non-inclusion of an anti-normalization clause in the future
Tunisian Constitution, the head of Ennahda parliamentary bloc, Sahbi Attig, said
that Ennahda was advised against such move by Hamas leaders (Meshaal and Hania).
Today, a spokesman for Hamas flatly denies
the claim. Here you have it: a bare-faced liar with the rank of a lawmaker
thought he could hide the fact that his party succumbed to pressure from the US
and Israel discussed in a Haaretz
article in September. So far,that is what is going in favor of Arab secular
opposition-- the dumbness and clumsiness of Islamists."

" Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Algeria’s backing on Monday for an emerging international effort to push Islamic militants out of northern Mali, in a meeting here with the president of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika."

"including exploding a car bomb in Jaramana, a Damascus neighborhood that
is home to various minorities who still back the government. At least 6
people were killed and 50 wounded by the bomb, said SANA, the official
news agency." What a disgraceful specimen of propaganda journalism laced with bigotry.

"Human
Rights Watch also called on Sheikh Hamad not to approve a draft media law unless
"loosely worded provisions penalising criticism of Qatar or neighbouring
governments" were removed. Although
the legislation calls for abolishing criminal penalties for media law
violations, article 53 prohibits publishing or broadcasting information that
would "throw relations between the state and the Arab and friendly states into
confusion" or "abuse the regime or offend the ruling family or cause serious
harm to the national or higher interests of the state". Those
who violate the law would face fines of up to $275,000. "The
draft law builds in a double standard on free expression that is inconsistent
with Qatar's claims to be a centre for media freedom in the region," Human
Rights Watch said". (thanks Sultan)

Israeli military propagandists can summon all Western reporters in Israel and can dictate to them claims and statements and rumors, and they would dutifully print them the next day. Can you imagine if Arab military propagandists tried to do the same? ""Sanctions have hurt the amount of aid Hezbollah receives from Iran," he said, without providing evidence to back up his claims. He said aid remains a "significant amount," estimating it at hundreds of millions of dollars a year."

""Many Israelis are sick of all the fighting, and the prospect of
war with Iran is terrifying. If Israel does attack Iran, Israeli fear of Iranian
retaliation may be just as great as the fear of living with an Iranian
bomb.""

""A quarter of Australian women have been sexually harassed in their workplace in
the past five years, according to a report released in the wake of a row sparked
when the prime minister, Julia Gillard, accused the opposition leader of
misogyny."" (thanks Amir)

""a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a
fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire, over 20% of female veterans have been
sexually assaulted while serving in the US army, of 3,192 sexual-assault reports
in 2011 only 191 members of the military were convicted at courts martial.""

When
my mother first visited me in DC, and I lived in Arlington, Virginia near the two (former) USA Today high rises as they were being constructed. She commented that building materials and structures
in the US are not strong enough. She felt that they were like toy buildings. She is right, I feel.

"A poet facing a secret trial in Qatar after being detained since last year is a possible prisoner of conscience and must be released immediately and unconditionally if he has been detained solely for his peaceful criticism, Amnesty International has urged as the one-year anniversary of his arrest approaches.

Mohammed al-Ajami – also known as Mohammed Ibn al-Dheeb – was arrested on 16 November 2011 in the capital Doha, and later reportedly charged with “inciting to overthrow the ruling system” and “insulting the Amir”. "

A Pakistani friend and colleague sent me this (I post with his permission):
"Knowing ahead of time the obscenities and oppression emanating from the
House of Saud helped me to have a decent hajj. But it is clear the material
contradictions of the entire "spiritual" experience are escalating. Muslims tend
to praise the House of Saud for making such great arrangements for these
millions of pilgrims. But the Saudi royal family knows that this whole religious
affair is one of their principal sources of pseudo-legitimacy, so it understands
the need to facilitate a good "spiritual-consumerist" hajj...that of course
excludes the many who have no camps but languish on the streets, or whose camps
are not exactly what hey had bargained for. And finally, let me just say that I
was looking forward to one of the last rituals of hajj: the stoning of Satan
(represented in the form of three pillars). But I was running out of pebbles by
the time I got to the stoning site. I had run into, and happily launched my
stones at, some worthy competitors: the Mall of Mecca and the disgustingly
ubiquitous pictures of the Saudi king. Talk about Wahhabi hypocrisy when it
claims to be emphasizing "anti-idolatry". Apparently idolatry is OK when it
comes to bowing before the brutal imbeciles running the country."

It is quite nauseating to see the reactions by some Muslim kooks (and some "mainstream" Muslim Brotherhood types) to the disaster hitting the East Coast of the US. They are engaged in gloating and insisting that this was a punishment from God. Don't they realize how many disasters have hit Muslims lands over the decades? Was that a punishment from God too? Enough nonsense.

The honeymoon between the Muslim Brotherhood and the US government continues. Last week, the world organization of the Brotherhood held a conference in New Jersey. The US government sent a representative and the two sides engaged in an intimate dialogue. Congratulations to both sides but I brace myself for the newly born.

Whenever there is an explosion in an ammunition depot of Hizbullah, Western media rush to cover the story and wire services send udpated reports. Yesterday, there was an explosion at an ammunition depot controlled by Hariri armed militias in Tripoli. Did any Western media cover it?

From Akram, the chief Angry Arab's correspondent in Syria: "Unsurprisingly, the cease-fire brokered by the UN envoy,
Lakhdar Ibrahimi, collapsed entirely before completing its second day when
intense clashes erupted since the morning in the eastern suburbs of Damascus
especially in Harasta, Zamalka and Douma. The fixed wing warplanes returned back
to the skies with density never seen before even in days that saw the worst
fighting there the howitzers and tanks were shelling heavily. With the fighting
taking place in an increasing intensity, car bombs move from one place to
another inside the Syrian capital and other areas. After the blast that
al-Zohour district in the first cease-fire day and took the lives of tens of
innocents, a car bomb exploded today morning in Jaramana that, in an initial
income, killed 5 and 69 others injured (Arabic). Reports that couldn’t
be confirmed said the explosion was caused by a suicide operation when a car
stormed a shop before being exploded. Yesterday, social media networks had
reported that an explosive implanted in a car owned by a senior police officer
that was parked in Tabala street, an extention of Dwela’a district, was
dismantled (Arabic).

While the shelling of the eastern suburbs of Damascus
continues, heavily, for the fourth consecutive day, the humanitarian outcome is
still not entirely clear. Opposition web (Arabic) pages reported
wide destruction of the towns targeted by the shelling, news confirmed to me by
a trustful source who, until yesterday, has lived in Harasta but obliged to flee
to Damascus with his family during the latest campaign. He described the life
there as impossible adding that the town is merely a ghost city now, in the
absence of drinking water, electricity and food with only fighters and few
elders and disabled civilians are still there. Another source with ties to the
pro-Assad sectors and who live in Tishreen district, near Harasta, described
fierce battles that are taking place there between the military supported by the
popular committees (known as Shabiha) from one side and the rebels from
the other side adding that, as far as he knows, the military is suffering heavy
losses."

I was just informed that the Jordanian government, through its "Security-of-the-state" apparatus, has arrested the leftist activist, Mu`az Al-`Izzah. You won't read about this in Western media, naturally.

Think tanks have to justified their funding so they have to produce reports and commentaries and they have to put people out in the media. Look at this report about Lebanon. There isn't one single insight: not one new idea. The author just copied and pasted from available journalistic pieces on Lebanon in mainstream US newspapers and magazines. I mean, why produce this? What is the reason? What is the purpose? It bothers me because he wasted his time "writing" it and I wasted my time reading it.

"Three of the world’s oldest mosques are about to be destroyed as
Saudi Arabia embarks on a multi-billion-pound expansion of Islam’s
second holiest site. Work on the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, where the
Prophet Mohamed is buried, will start once the annual Hajj pilgrimage
ends next month. When complete, the development will turn the mosque
into the world’s largest building, with the capacity for 1.6 million
worshippers.
But concerns have been raised that the development will see key
historic sites bulldozed. Anger is already growing at the kingdom’s
apparent disdain for preserving the historical and archaeological
heritage of the country’s holiest city, Mecca. Most of the expansion of
Masjid an-Nabawi will take place to the west of the existing mosque,
which holds the tombs of Islam’s founder and two of his closest
companions, Abu Bakr and Umar." (thanks Khaled)

""Another central player in the campaign to stop Iran is Morocco. The country has
shown that it can facilitate military and intelligence coordination between the
Gulf states and Israel, thanks to its remarkable track record; when the Gulf
emirs had just begun to establish their own modern states in the 1970s,
centuries-old Morocco lent the expertise of its police and intelligence
apparatus to help build up these new states’ security services.""

""Since 1957, Israel has invested tremendous resources in building up a solid
nuclear arsenal in Dimona. Today, according to various estimates, this stockpile
comprises some 100–300 devices, including two-stage thermonuclear warheads and a
variety of delivery systems, the most important of which are modern German-built
submarines, which constitute the backbone of Israel's second-strike
capability.""

""Aided by more than 13 different European
and American public relations companies at times, the regime aims to turn its
blatant repression into a net asset by capitalising on the fear of the enemy du
jour: Shia Iran. At the end of the day the fact remains the same: you can be
Shia and loyal to the regime, like Sameera Rajab who is minister of information;
and you can be Sunni, sentenced by a military court, tortured and serving time
in prison, like Ebrahim Sharif.""

""More worryingly, back in 2006, the Observer reported that in India some
husbands were forcing their wives into selling their hair, slum children were
being tricked into having their heads shaved in exchange for toys, and in one
case a gang stole a woman's hair, holding her down and cutting it off.""

"Saudi Arabia will build a massive Islamic centre complete with a university and a mosque in Afghanistan, an Afghan minister said Monday, describing the project as “grand and unique”.
Estimated to cost up to $100 million, the centre on a hilltop in central Kabul will house up to 5,000 students, Dayi-Ul Haq Abed, the acting Hajj and religious affairs minister told AFP."Please spare us the grand and unique projects of the House of Saud. The Taliban was one of the grand and unique projects. (thanks Sultan)

Syrian "revolutionaries" (to the right) claim that the man with the gun is one of Shi`ite militia men who are fighting "against the Syrian people and the Free Syrian Army". The picture to the left shows the source of the forgery. (thanks Basim)

PS And notice the blatantly sectarian language of those "revolutionaries". As one Arab poet once said: ولي على قامتي على هيك ثورة.

PS I was just told that the "revolutionary" Facebook page has just deleted the picture after they were exposed--minutes after I posted this here.

So the Syrian revolutionaries who kidnapped Lebanese journalist, Fida' `Itani, issued a statement in which they said that "the method of Fida's work does not suit the path of the revolution". I am translated verbatim from their statement. This sentence in itself points to the kind of political order those horrible people want to impose on Syria. Their vision is a replica of the vision of the Ba`th. I can see them marching people to the gallows for "working against the revolution". Those people should be fought with the same intensity of fighting against the lousy regime.

This silly March 14 center, which excludes all Gulf regimes from its coverage because they fund it, issued this statement about the abduction by Syrian revolutionaries of Lebanese journalist, Fida' `Itani (who supports the Syrian "revolution", mind you): "“The rebels announced that they were holding Itani… but
pointed out that the reports and videos he made did not prove his involvement
with any party against the revolution… The foundation condemns [his] arrest,
especially that the rebels have denied that the journalist had in any way acted
[against] them, which makes his arrest all the more illogical,” the statement
said."So according to this silly center, abduction of journalists is permissible if they work against this "revolution"?

This columnist in the mouthpiece of Prince Salman, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat (who also is director of the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law), `Abdur-Rahman Al-Rashid, says that it is essential to overthrow the Syrian regime because its preservation would threaten and may overthrow the existing regime. I just liked the argument very much. Those people even dare to speak in the name of "Arab revolutions". (thanks Amer)

Regarding about a post from a few days ago, Abdullah (among others) sent me this: "Actually, in Egypt, the term "Mouzza", which also means "banana" is now a
catcall of sorts, used to refer to attractive women. I heard it a number
of times among younger male friends last time I went." But her name is mouzza too: so how did the correspondent of the Economist know it was a catcall?

Sunday, October 28, 2012

As you know that this has become a regular feature on this site. Yesterday, I posted about a fabricated photo shopped picture of the Iranian ambassador with the widow of Wisam Al-Hasan. The picture--as I predicted--and the story have been removed from the site of Al-Arabiyya (owned by King Fahd's brother-in-law). But the funny thing is that Al-Arabiyya said that it got it from Now Hariri, and the latter said it got it from "Facebook". Kid you not.

"And Abed, my driver, and I drove as we
have so often these past decades to park near the museum, and I ran down the
side street and stood next to the soldiers. And here comes your reporter,
clumping into his own story again. On this very spot, beside this very road,
next to this very wall, I took cover from bullets 36 years ago." (thanks Basim)

PS Abed was supplied to Fisk by none other than his friend, Walid Jumblat.

""You know how we find out that Hezbollah
is under pressure?" [No, please tell me. I am dying t know]. asked Hilal Khashan, a professor in the political science
department at the American University of Beirut. "They remain quiet. They are
keeping a very low profile during these days. There is already pressure on
Hezbollah and the pressure is mounting.""

""A British citizen whose family believe he is being tortured
by American secret agents has suddenly had all his rights as a UK national
removed by the Home Secretary. Mahdi Hashi – who MI5 once tried to recruit as a
spy – has been deprived of his British passport, denied access to consular
assistance and may never return to Britain.""

Ahmet sent me this: "Asad, look at him here, have he heard of something called Wikileaks??: "Former
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, normally a rational man who shouldered the
responsibility of power with great dignity and resolve in the difficult years
following the Hariri assassination, succumbed to a moment of reckless silliness
when he said Sunday that Mikati’s Cabinet was a “government of assassination,”"" PS When March 8 crowds held a peaceful sit-in outside the offices of Fu'ad Sanyurah, this ostensibly "dignified" man invited the Sunni Mufti of Lebanon to pray with him before the cameras in order to whip up sectarian sentiments and anger. It worked.

BTW it might be worth pointing out that the 'known Jewish reporter' was
then part of the Daily Mail group. The Daily Mail (or 'Daily Heil' or 'Daily
Wail' as we wits like to call it) is a notoriously tabloidesque, right-wing rag
which hates just about everyone who isn't a male, white, middle-class,
Protestant Southern Englishman. It also supported the Nazis in WWll. As for
Finegold - who had harassed Livingstone for ages - being a 'known Jewish
reporter' I would say that if he had to point out his Jewish-ness to
Livingstone, it probably wasn't all that 'known'. Not sure that it should matter
in any case. And while the story became the subject of a huge faux outrage for a
time, those who actually knows Livingstone said that accusations of
anti-antisemitism, or any other form of racism, are absurd.

So, draw your own conclusions."

PS How come I am not surprised that yet another Zionist (the writer of the article in the Times) has vomited a lie?

"Hassan closed the conversation with an admonition. The United States
shouldn’t imagine that it was getting into a “gray war” in Syria, he
said. “This is a real war. . . . You have to do it 24 hours a day.”"

"The assassination of Lebanon's security chief a week ago robbed the
U.S. and Europe of one of its closest allies in monitoring and
countering the regional activities of Lebanon's Hezbollah, as well as
its backers in Syria and Iran, said U.S. and Arab officials. Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan headed intelligence-gathering for Lebanon's
police force, the Internal Security Forces, which was among Beirut's
primary recipients of U.S. financial aid since mass protests forced
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to remove his troops from the country
in 2005." (thanks Mohammed)

There is a long article in the New York Times about Iraqi fighters joining the conflict in Syria. The article began by saying that there is indeed infiltration of fighters joining the armed opposition, but then decided to ignore that and focus exclusively on those who are joining the ranks of the regime. But what is the evidence? Here it is: "“Dozens of Iraqis are joining us, and our brigade is growing day by
day,” Ahmad al-Hassani, a 25-year-old Iraqi fighter, said by telephone
from Damascus. He said that he arrived there two months ago, taking a
flight from Tehran." But again, like all press coverage of Syria, how was this fighter located? Who provided his number? How do we know that he was telling truth? All that is not explained and we are expected to trust media that have recycled lies and news from one of the trashiest news sites in the world--I am talking about Al-Arabiyya TV and news site. Now, I don't know if there are Shi`ite fighters joining the ranks of the regime but it should be said that the armed opposition Syrian groups have failed to produce one Hizbullah or Iranian fighter. One. While there has been extensive evidence of foreign fighters on the armed opposition side. I really don't read a word on Syria in the Western Zionist press which is not pure crude propaganda.

Among the many many deficiencies of Arab media, is lack of investigations of clerics (Sunni, Shi`ite, and Christians). There is so much corruption in this class and they get away with it because foreign state usually sponsor those elements.

Zionist hoodlums have every right to be alarmed with the rise of anti-Israeli sentiments in Europe and around the world (outside of the US--the last bastion of Zionist colonial thought). But how do Zionists respond to this phenomenon? They resort to the standard Zionist practice of distortion, fabrication, and the production of lies. Since its inception, the Zionist movement operated on a simple premise: that lying for the cause of propaganda is a casual occurrence. It is fair to say that as much as Arab regimes lie in the course of their business, Israel lies far more, and even with less skill increasingly. So there is this long article in the New York Times about the rise of anti-Semitism among the left, but as typical in such trashy articles, there is not a single evidence of anti-Semitism. Not one. The author instead resorts to rehashing statements from Islamists, forgetting that his article is about the Left and not about Islamists. "Ken Livingstone, a former newspaper editor and mayor of London, has a
long history of insensitive remarks about Jews — from publishing a
cartoon in 1982 of Menachem Begin, then Israel’s prime minister, in
Gestapo uniform atop a pile of Palestinian skulls to likening a known
Jewish reporter to “a concentration camp guard” 20 years later. Today,
he contributes to Press TV, the English-language outlet for the Iranian
government." So the whole article about the left is reduced to one reference to King Livingstone, and the cases against him--at least here--are rather dubious. Working for Press TV (or for Fox News for that matter), does not make one anti-Semitic in itself. Publishing a cartoon against Begin does not make one anti-Semitic either. As for calling a Jewish reporter "a concentration camp guard", while I would like to see the context of such a statement, I would like more information on the subject before I can render a judgement especially that the writer of this silly shows himself to be a typical Zionist in his disregard for logic and truth. In my experience with European and US left, people are rightly quick to denounce anti-Semitic expressions. I can only think of an Israeli who "infiltrated"--so to say--into the pro-Palestinian leftist camp in Europe, Jilad Atzmon, and I and others signed petitions against him and people in the left denounced what they saw as evidence of his anti-Semitism. So there is no story here whatsoever except that Zionists are upset that people are turning against Israeli terrorism so the only refuge for Zionist hoodlums is to falsely cry "anti-Semitism" to stifle debate. Those tactics work in the US but they don't work anywhere else. This is why the writer wrote his trashy piece in the New York Times, of all places.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

I noticed that published stories about Yigal Carmon, the founder of the Mossad, does not mention his background with the Mossad. He is referred to as former Colonel in the Israeli terrorist forces and a government adviser on terrorism. But he also was a senior member of the Mossad who had extensive dealings with the Lebanese Forces death squads during the civil war years. For the other side of Carmon, see Alain Menargues, Les Secrets De La Guerre Du Liban. Regarding the writings of Menargues on Lebanon (he has a second book out): I was cautious in using them because I was not able to verify the reliability. But I was able recently to verify reliability by learning of his method of documentation. Menargues simply paid money to senior former Lebanese Forces commander to obtain detailed documents and minutes of meetings.

I have told you that this is a regular feature. Look at this picture: it is clearly photo shopped by the clumsy Office of Fabrications and Forgery at the Saudi intelligence apparatus. The article and the picture appeared on the website of Al-Arabiyya (news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law) and it ostensibly shows the widow of Wisam Al-Hasan refusing to shake hands with the Iranian ambassador in Lebanon. The picture even looks fake as it is: they did a lousy job with the photo shop. But they left out an important detail: the ambassadors of the Islamic regime in Iran (and Shi`ites who follow a muqallid) don't shake hands with women. (thanks Jamal)

PS Please capture an image of the page because the site is known for sneakily removing lies and fabrications once they are exposed, here or elsewhere.

"The government, apparently anticipating street demonstrations, stationed
security forces near mosques that tried to break up some of the
protests, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights." Why not get rid of the bevy of correspondents and the stringers and just copy and paste the reports of the Qatari-funded Syrian Observatory for Human Rights? I mean, really.

I am glad that the New York Times had a long expose about the corruption of the family of the Chinese prime minister. But they would not dare do an expose about the corruption of the family of the Saudi King--and it is far more than $2.7 billion.

"As Syria’s civil war intensifies, Abdelke reflects the feelings of much of
the country’s intelligentsia. Strongly critical of the regime of Bashar
al-Assad, they deplore the way the peaceful uprising—which they eagerly
supported last year—is being transformed. Its character has become increasingly
religious, and foreigners rather than Syrians are driving the change.
“More and more weapons are coming in, and not just basic ones. The Gulf
states are paying enormous sums to provide arms, and they have a completely
different vision from most Syrians. Even worse, groups of Salafis linked to Al
Qaeda are arriving with an outlook on life that is even more closed than that of
the Gulf states,” Abdelke says. “We’re moving toward a war between Sunnis and
Alawites [the minority offshoot from Shiism to which the Assad family belongs].
We could be facing a real danger of Syria’s fragmentation.”"

From Angry Arab's correspondent in Damascus, Akram: "For the second time in three days, al-Tadamoun district, in
the south of Damascus, is hit by the car bomb. This time, the blast happened in
the first day of Eid al-Adha, which is also the first day of the four days
uncontrolled cease-fire brokered by the UN envoy, Lakhdar Ibrahimi.

Loyal news networks reported that a car was exploded this
afternoon in the Police Housing Neighborhood in Daf as-Shoq district (which is
part of al-Tadamoun), killing five and more than 35 injured and huge material
damage in the area with 4 buildings collapsed (Arabic). The Syrian
news agency Sana reported the explosion briefly and broadcasted some photos.

This truce violation wasn’t the first today, though the
bloodiest one. Since the early hours of the morning, the residents of the
eastern parts of Damascus were able to hear sporadic clashes and explosions from
Jobar and Harasta that continued until noon and the opposition news networks in
both towns reported many people killed as the result of what they described to
be bombing and sniping (Arabic, Arabic). Meanwhile, the
Syrian army HQ issued an outcome of the breaches of the truce perpetuated by the
rebels in different cities in Syria."

""That may explain why some analysts believe Israel and the
United States gave Qatar the go-ahead for this trip, as Israel-Palestine watcher
Hamadi El-Aouni told Deutsche Welle. Their goal seems to be to "re-orient"
Palestinian groups away from supporters Iran and Syria and help them establish
"new partners in the western-oriented and Sunni Middle Eastern countries," the
paper explains, such as Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, and yes, Qatar."" (thanks Amir)

""What makes this most ironic, and most
destructive, is that this function is the exact antithesis of what media figures
claim they perform and what pioneers of press freedom protections envisioned.
The political media is designed to be adversarial because it is supposed to
serve as a scrutinizing check on the claims of those in power, not serve as
worshipful, propagandistic amplifiers of those claims.""

"Syrian pilgrims raised
rebel flags as the haj reached its climax near Mecca on Thursday, despite a call
from Saudi Arabia's top cleric for the annual Islamic pilgrimage to be free from
nationalist sentiment and Muslim infighting." (thanks Basim)

""This is a big blow for the Americans because of Hassan's role
inside Lebanon," said a senior Arab diplomat. "He was the top intelligence chief
and interlocutor."...Gen. Hassan's death comes as Washington is intensifying its
intelligence operations inside Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq".

"But whereas some Sunni Lebanese factions back the Syrian rebels with
arms and money, other factions, most notably Hizbullah, lend emphatic
support to the embattled Assad regime." Wait, wait, wait. So arming and financing groups in Syria does not amount to "emphatic support"? Please explain this one to me, Economist.

""At this point I should highlight
an important fact: historically, Turkey was never colonised by any western
power, never oppressed by European imperialism. This allowed us later to nurture
more freely our dreams of European-style westernisation, without dredging up too
many bad memories or guilty feelings."" (thanks Ali)

"But a report presented Thursday to the United
Nations by the American Civil Liberties Union said shootings and excessive force
by Customs and Border Protection agents on the border have left at least 20
individuals dead or seriously hurt since January 2010. Of those, eight cases involved agents
responding to reports of people throwing rocks. Six involved people killed while
standing on the Mexican side of the border."

Zionist fanatic* at WINEP, David Schenker, has an exclusive scoop: he reports that based on his TV viewing, Hasan Nasrallah has gained weight. He ads that this development would change the balance of power in the region. More on this developing story. Schenker finds no evidence that Nasrallah is following Weight Watchers diet, all rumors to the contrary notwithstanding.

PS It is redundant to describe someone as Zionist fanatic because Zionism is by definition a fanatical movement.

"The only people underwhelmed by the Qatari visitor were Gazan residents.
Crowds did not pour onto the streets; the emir cancelled a scheduled
open-air address after only a few hundred filled a stadium which could
hold tens of thousands. Gaza’s have-nots have heard promises of
development money before, not least from Qatar, only to see the cash
disappear."

"local security men briefly abandoned Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani
to take pictures of his glamorous wife, Sheikha Moza, calling her
“mouzza”, or “hot chick”, to get her full attention." Oh, no, Economist. They were calling her "mouzza" because that is her name and it means "banana" (in classical Arabic and in mashriqi dialect) and not hot chick". In Gulf Arabic, mouzza means a diamond or pearl.

Friday, October 26, 2012

"At the press conference the chairman of the EHRA, Abdulghafar
Hussein, stated that they had met ten detainees on two visits and that
reports of torture are unfounded. He stated that food for the detainees
is being provided for by a 5* Abu Dhabi hotel and that they can speak to
their families twice a week. A number of detainees’ families, too
fearful to speak out publicly, have privately expressed their outraged
by the statements made during the EHRA’s press conference.

This was the first occasion that the EHRA have commented on the
crackdown against peaceful reformists and their website carries no
information about the case. The EHRA is a government backed
organization, it is not independent and it exists within a system where
critical analysis of government actions is not tolerated and dealt with
harshly.

The authorities are attempting to use an organization under its
control to dismiss allegations of torture, lawyer intimidation and lack
of due process and their actions are indicative of a regime with
something to hide.

The press conference is the latest in a stream of efforts to counter
the growing focus on the poor human rights record of the Emirates. In
recent weeks there has been a sustained public relations campaign aimed
at defending the actions of the authorities and publicly criminalizing
the 64 individuals who they continue to hold without charge.

Several opinion pieces have appeared in government backed media
stating that the detainees are religiously intolerant and seek to roll
back women’s rights. The UAE ambassador to the UK made similar
allegations in a comment piece for the Guardian, without providing any
evidence. Islah’s views on religious freedom and women’s rights are made
clear on their website and the links can be found below.

The Emirates Centre for Human Rights condemns the actions of the
Emirati authorities in continuing to deceive the public about the
security services’ maltreatment of the detainees. We call upon the
international community to support our call for the UAE to charge the
detainees immediately or release them. If they are to be charged they
should be provided with legal assistance. Evidence secured by torture
must be deemed inadmissible in any future trial, which must be public
and held in the presence of international observers." (thanks Rupert)

Ziad sent me this: "Referring to your post abt
Narallah and weight, I dont know what appearence they were refering to,
but the last time he appeared in public it was very clear he was a
wearing a kevlar vest, even my mom could tell and she hasnt seen a gun
in her life."

PS I am wondering. If an Arab were to write about the weight of Netanyahu, would that be considered anti-Semitic? I am sure. I have no doubt.

I don't think that I have recommended the book by former CIA station chief in Jordan, Jack O'Connell, titled: King's Counsel: A Memoir of War, Espionage, and Diplomacy in the Middle East. O'Connell was a legend in his times and basically ran the kingdom and ran the King. It is more revealing than most books of this genre. All Middle East specialists will read it like a thriller: you can't put it down. It has some important revelations and even insights about a very turbulent era (were eras of the region ever not turbulent thanks to foreign intervention and meddling?). It is by far one of the most interesting books on the region to come in a long time. He also has important insights about US foreign policy making in the Middle East. Wait: I should not go on. I need to write an article about this important book. Later.

PS Thank you, Tim, for strongly recommending the book to me.
PPS Let me be clear: my excitement about the book and the information in it is in no way an endorsement of the politics of the book especially that the author is an unrepentant and unconditional fan of the King. He makes no bones about it.

I am a huge fan of Andrew Hammond, the Middle East correspondent for Reuters. He is unique in his knowledge of the region: he is fluent in Arabic and has an independent mind. I have endorsed his new book, The Islamic Utopia: the Illusion of Reform in Saudi Arabia, and am thrilled that is out. I strongly and enthusiastically recommend the book. Andrew reported in the kingdom for years (as unhappy as Saudi princes have been with his work) and knows this subject intimately. This book should be widely read: rare are the books on Saudi Arabia that are neither apologetic nor Islamophoebic.

A journalist went to interview Subhi Tufayli (the leader of Hizbullah in the 1980s during its most horrific phase). She asked him a question about his past alliance with the Syrian regime and he blew up at her and lost it. He called her an Israeli and then ordered his men to remove the recorder from her. His thuggish son almost hit her. Tufayli is now the Saudi-Hariri choice for leading the Shi`ites of Lebanon although his popular base does not extend beyond his small family and the confines of Saudi intelligence headquarters.

The Hariri version of state building does not differ from the Asad version in Syria. Both Wisam Al-Hasan and his successor in the Intelligence Branch were bodyguards for Rafiq Hariri. This is their version of institution building.

""For almost two years, the UAE’s political Islamists have been referred to in
the West as human rights activists. No doubt, they are indeed activists with an
agenda but there is also no doubt that they are not our version of Nelson
Mandela, nor is their vision for the country that of the Magna Carta. I have
been following their rhetoric — in Arabic — over the past few months on social
media with great concern. I have found it to be xenophobic; anti-Semitic;
sectarian; exclusionary; racist toward Asians, Africans and other Arabs and
overall repugnant"" 1)Do people deserve freedom and human rights only if they are "Nelson Mandela"? 2) that can still be applied to the Syrian armed and unarmed exile opposition who are not Mandela either. 3) Does that mean that those folks are not democrats UNLIKE the regime of the UAE, which it is? 4) Does that mean that anybody with repugnant rhetoric should be arrested? 5) If vision for the country is a condition for enjoying democracy, few few political parties would foot the bill. 6) The UAE regime is oppressing them not because they are anti-Semitic or sectarian or racist: on those matters, the UAE ruling elite is not any different. 7) Do you imply here that democracy should only extend to people who use politically correct language and who sound like Nelson Mandela and who have a vision? (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

""The young fighter claims he recognised his enemies as Hezbollah by
their combat skills and American-made M16 assault rifles."" Would this paper or other Western papers print a statement by an Arab fighter to the effect that the evidence that those armed men were Israeli is due to their skill and their carrying of M16 rifles?

""The ship's Libyan captain told the Times of London that "I can
only talk about the medicine and humanitarian aid" for the Syrian rebels. It was
reported there was a fight about the weapons and who got what "between the free
Syrian Army and the Muslim Brotherhood." ""

""Six out of ten French people believe the influence of Islam
in France is "too big" and 43 percent see the religion as a "threat" to national
identity, according to the results of an opinion poll published on
Thursday.""

""And American support for MEK is not limited to military
protection. Seymour Hersh, in his New Yorker piece "Our Men in Iran?"
revealed that beginning in 2005, MEK fighters were trained in Nevada by the
Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).""

"The explanation strained credulity, and the following day Shiite Lebanese journalist Nadim Koteich spent ten minutes on prime time television picking apart Nasrallah's tortured justification." But why does not this Zionist writer tell the readers that this Koteich is none other than the man who urged the crowd to storm the prime minister's headquarters last week and who is a TV presenter with Hariri TV? He made him sound like Walter Cronkite. You see: Zionist rhetoric works only if you know nothing about the subject matter, otherwise they come across as fools and fabricators.

"In recent months, the paper had also attacked Wissam al-Hassan for his anti-Assad regime stance)." I am used to habitual lying by Zionists of WINEP who rely on NowHariri for their views on Lebanon (remember when Micahel Young assured them in 2003 and 2004 and 2005 that Hizbullah was losing support among Shi`ites in Lebanon?), but this is quite funny. In fact, Al-Akhbar--to my chagrin and dismay--published tributes to Hasan after his death and Hasan was quite friendly with top editors and writers at the paper. But then again, what do you say about somebody who is now an expert on the fluctuating weight of Hasan Nasrallah?

Look at this analysis: "Most striking, the once-svelte, turbaned cleric has ballooned into corpulence. Perhaps the bunker lifestyle with its attendant lack of exercise is catching up with the aging sheikh. Or maybe Nasrallah is stress eating. Regardless, images of the now rotund, almost cherubic Hezbollah leader laboriously ascending the podium in September to deliver a fiery "death to America, death to Israel" speech (posted on the organization's Intiqad electronic magazine website) do not inspire the same level of terror as before." I don't see any changes in the weight of Nasrallah. In fact, from the first time I saw him in person I thought that he was more overweight than he appears on the screen. In the last few years (after the July war), I thought that he has lost some weight. In fact, last time I was in Lebanon I learned that he does get exercise and does see the sun regularly. I mean, you have somebody like the Zionist above who watches TV and who vomit opinion and final judgment on subjects that they don't know anything about.

Yesterday, I was listening to the BBC while driving. They were interviewing a person about the Syria situation. But they were asking him questions about what Syrians wanted and what Syrians did not want. In other words, the questions and even the answers led me to believe that the person was certainly a Syrian. He said that all Syrians have the same position and all are supportive of the Syrian armed opposition with the exception of the `Alawites. I thought to myself: another sectarian Syrian opposition person. I waited till the end of the interview to hear his name and it was lo and behold none other than a Zionist at the Washington Institute for Near Policy (David Schenker).

Thursday, October 25, 2012

In response to the bombing by the Israeli terrorist regime, the Sudanese dictatorship's only response was that it preserves the right to "select the time and place" of the response. In Ba`thist language, it means that it will never respond ever--not that this was the first time the Zionist regime bombs Sudan.

"There was also some speculation in Israel that Hamas might also have
wanted to retaliate for the destruction of a weapons factory in Sudan
early Wednesday. Sudan blamed Israel for bombing the factory from the
air, presumably to prevent its weapons from reaching Gaza."

"“For torture,” Shaza, the Information Ministry official, said as she
pointed to meat hooks and electric wires dangling from the walls. It was
hard to know. Perhaps the meat hooks had been used to hang intravenous
bags, or perhaps for nothing..." Yeah, I am sure that they were for "nothing". That was a very smart guess on your part. Where do they get their correspondents really?

Comic by Terry Furry, reproduced from "Heard the One About the Funny Leftist?" by Cris Thompson, East Bay Express

As'ad's Bio

As'ad AbuKhalil, born March 16, 1960. From Tyre, Lebanon, grew up in Beirut. Received his BA and MA from American University of Beirut in pol sc. Came to US in 1983 and received his PhD in comparative government from Georgetown University. Taught at Tufts University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Colorado College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Served as a Scholar-in-Residence at Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He served as free-lance Middle East consultant for NBC News and ABC News, an experience that only served to increase his disdain for maintream US media. He is now professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. His favorite food is fried eggplants.

The comments that appear in the comments' section are unedited and uncensored. The thoughtful and thoughtless, sane and insane, loving and hateful, wise and unwise ideas that they contain do not represent the Angry Arab. They only represent those who write them, whoever they are.